Health

Nosocomial acquisition of Clostridium difficile infection

Article Abstract:

Nosocomial infections are those infections acquired by patients during a hospital stay. The bacteria Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) has been associated with episodes of diarrhea and colitis (inflammation of the colon) in hospital patients receiving antibiotic therapy. To determine how this infection is acquired and transmitted, 428 hospital patients were evaluated over an eleven month period. Cultures for C. difficile revealed that 7 percent of the hospitalized patients had the infection prior to admission and 21 percent of the patients with the infection acquired it after admission. Many patients with positive cultures had no symptoms. Cultures from the hands of hospital personnel caring for the affected patients were positive for C. difficile in 59 percent of the cases. Hospital rooms were often found to be contaminated with the organism. Eighty-two percent of the patients diagnosed with C. difficile still had positive cultures at the time of hospital discharge. It was concluded that transmission of the bacteria by hospital workers was responsible for one third of the nosocomial C. difficile infections. It is suggested that infection control precautions such as frequent hand washing and disinfection of hospital rooms be instituted to prevent the spread of these infections.

An epidemic of urinary tract infections?

Article Abstract:

The strains of Escherichia coli that cause urinary tract infections are becoming resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat these infections. Researchers found that college women in California, Michigan, and Minnesota were infected with one of these strains. This indicates that drug resistance is spreading and that doctors need to take appropriate steps to prevent it.

Transmission of Histoplasma capsulatum by organ transplantation

Article Abstract:

Researchers describe two people who received a kidney transplant who apparently contracted histoplasmosis from the donor. Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection that is common in the Mississippi River valley, where the donor lived.